Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Capcom AND Nintendo Made Mega Man in SSB Happen

There's a brewing misunderstanding that Nintendo (and only Nintendo) made the effort to bring Mega Man to the new Super Smash Bros. The sentiment is concurrent with the phrase, "Nintendo cares more about Mega Man than Capcom." That, however, is not the case.

"Nintendo doesn't "care" about Mega Man more than Capcom. Those are logos," tweets Capcom community manger Brett Elston. "PEOPLE on both sides made SSB happen. That design is collaboration." He adds, "Years in, I still understand the frustration. But digging to find the
negative with something this positive hinders the conversation."

Spend one minute on Brett's Twitter and you'll understand just how legitimate his passion for Mega Man is. He understands what we're going through. He gets it. But to completely deny Capcom's involvement in one of the most important milestones in the franchise's history? That's unfair.

There is a clear mutual respect for the franchise from both companies. Who approached who doesn't matter. It's happening. It's moving forward because both entities made the effort. It's a collaboration in every sense of the word.

I agree with both of you, but I'd rather not have the next MM be on Nintendo, Smash will get MM exposure (as it did with Earthbound/Fire Emblem/Kid Icarus), but at the same time this is Nintendo's game not Capcom's so that exposure won't really speed up a new game at all. A Wii U exclusive MM would not be good IMO.

I get it. I think we all get it. This is a result of two companies and not just one. But the fact of the matter is, Capcom has never done and would never do something like this without Nintendo. Capcom hasn't made a brave attempt at allowing the character to grow and change in this way since Mega Man 8 came out in 1996. The exception might be Mega Man Powered Up in 2006, which in my personal opinion was an example of Capcom losing their once magic touch.

If Capcom cares more about this character than Nintendo does, I invite them to prove it. They need to wow us even more than Nintendo has. They need to prove that their business is worth their investment and is about more than just being cheap and cutting corners. Otherwise, I'd like to see our blue boy change owners, as well as every other property Capcom currently holds in the same hands they use to strangle the life out of everything they once built.

Aye, remember how bad the quality got when they had the yearly schedule. It took them 2-3 tries to really get things running smoothly - most notably apparent with Battle Network 4-6 and Star Force.

Just be a bit patient - what we're waiting for isn't them making a new game - they're working on that now. What we're waiting for is for them to announce what it is, and they've got around another six months to do it. Just wait for them to make sure that it'll be up to par with our expectations - we don't want them jumping the gun like with Legends 3 again.

I, for one, am extremely excited and grateful. To feel what I felt during the Nintendo Direct when he was revealed is something I haven't felt in a long time. Visually, it was like the return of Christ on the mountaintop or something. lol I really don't have any gripes at this point. I wanted Mega Man in Brawl, actually, but I think Brawl fell a little short of the mark and what with this being Mega Man's 25th, it's a better time than any for him to be included in such a game.

If I had ANY thing to criticize, it would be how he's depicted. I wish he could have been included as just "Mega Man" and not playing into the characteristics of his 8-Bit incarnation. The way he looks in many pieces of artwork and figures, etc. Around the same size as Link or Pit. Maybe having a voice too. Other than that though, I love how his design has all the mechanical touches and I love how they're putting emphasis on how his buster(s) are used. It's growing on me. And it does work well at representing him the way he was back on the NES, Nintendo's heritage. So it works in that respect.

All things considered, I am content. I too wish there were a new game hinted at or teased and I'm assuming MM in Smash Bros. is Capcom's E3 surprise? Even so, I think this is a great sign of things to come. Being in a Smash Bros. game is a tremendous milestone indeed, and I can't wait to play 'em.

I too am also very grateful and pleasantly surprised that Mega Man is in this. Knowing previous history with the development of third-party reps in Brawl, I knew this also had to be a collaboration. Of course, I won't lie, I did say "Nintendo delivers" in a previous comment, but that was kind of fueled by the spur of the moment. I'm nonetheless happy to see that Mega Man is in this, and hope that maybe his introduction will only make things better from here on out.

Although I'm still a bit bitter about that "Classic Mega Man cannot work in a fighter" comment from awhile back.

Wow! And here I thought people would be happy. I never once thought Capcom had nothing to do with Mega Man getting into Smash. That doesn't make any kind of sense. I'm surprised people have been saying that. Really, folks. Capcom finally puts Mega Man in something legit, and this is how you thank them? Don't make them think twice about it in the future!

Now, I am grateful that Megaman got into Smash Bros. 4, and I look forward to getting a WiiU or 3DS so that I can actually play the game. And I'm actually not too concerned about how much (certain people at) CoJ cared for his inclusion.

BUT CoJ had not put much visible effort into getting MM back into gaming (aside from maybe Xover, but that's not for this thread) until now. So it's really kind of a dick move to shame people who were understandably suspicious/doubtful. (And nobody's gone the sort of inarticulate rage-spree that might warrant a comment like that yet, mostly just being wary of Capcom and at the same time being glad that Megaman got in.)

Aymen to that, RADIX. Fandoms are a nitpicking and suspicious bunch NO MATTER WHERE YOU GO, and heck, I can see where their getting at (e.g. Marvel "shaking up" the status quo 24/7, the dark age of Sonic, Spider Man's "One More Day" Arc, DC's "Countdown" disaster, and more recently the poor press regarding the XBOX ONE)

For heaven's sake, to all thou holier-than-thous, save the condescending lectures for when we start burning down Gamestops and the CoJ restaurant in protest.

Okay, I'll give this one to Capcom! I am, for one, really grateful for this! I am seriously stoked for this game! I feel like a kid who just wants to say "THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!" a million times over, like I just got a puppy for Christmas! :D

Well said protodudes, but some guys need to critic capcom because they are boring fanboy and frustrated....to make a good games need a lot of times.When Inafune left Capcom, there was a lot of problems, Capcom need some times to REMADE the serie, specially with Classic and MMX (the favorites), so they make some goodies poll/vote and others things, to see what is the best for the fans.

I think, Capcom is a company who need to know exactly what We need so it can takes some times.

Megaman in SSB was really wanted, it's a reason why WE have him now in this game (i bought SSB brawl to do a training and be sure i can be good with Megaman! :D )

It's a good post from protodudes, Capcom want to make a reboot of the serie I think, but it needs time and be sure it will be a success, cause, without Inafune who wanted some news games (with inti creates), it can be harder (but Megaman became a serie with TOO MUCH SERIES i think).

Capcom like the first series He made, he gives us Megaman to SSB, now let's wait for a new game!

Are you serious? People actually made those comments? Some people really need to be grateful! We could have gotten nothing at all... People were requesting Mega Man to be in Smash Bros for a long while now... Don't you think Capcom gets credit for answering what the fans wanted? You'd think everyone would be happy about this, and yet a lot of people are acting like crying babies because we didn't get a new game yet... It's better to have something then nothing at all! I don't care who approached who first about adding Mega Man to the game... The thing is Capcom could of easily of said No about adding him, but they didn't this time...

Always going to be malcontents and crap-stirrers, even when presented with a dream-come-true like this. Who CARES which company "loves" Mega Man more, the character is showing up in a series that we've always wanted to see him in. That's the bottom line.

I have a hard time thinking that the fans constantly baraging the ssb maker to put in mm is what got him in. I really have a hard time thinking of anyone at capcom calling nintendo say'n hey could you guys put mega man in something? REally think this is a way to shut us up because lets be honest if they had there say so on who's in smash it'd be ryu and some obscure character from capcom arcade cabinet, no way clasic mm would even be a thought..unless it was a toy a shitty derp face statue or some sort of other nic nac they could price thru the roof.

Although I'm not a Smash Bros fan, and possibly never will, I'm welcoming this as good news. As appointed before, who invited who, that's a matter of perspective and mere semantics and who still believe the contrary there's a huge door at the end of the hall that leads outside. Really, we don't need bad karma coming on. Somebody pointed that this is huge due the fact that our little hero will reach new generations and maybe that could be the CAPCOM approach for new games. Yes, I know, everybody is still mad for the incident of MML3, but face it, the industry is not the same as 20 years ago and now money rules over anything else. So if CAPCOM needs the money, maybe the new generations will pay it (or us like the good parents that we are) and will keep alive Rock with a new and fresh start. Just imagine a new 6-10 games saga with that cute design from SSB, that could happen. See what's happening with Duck Tales, maybe that's the queue that we needed as Rockman/Megaman fans. I'll not buy a new console to play Rock on SSB, but gladly buy a new game thanks to the new heat for the Blue Bomber.

I'm not ungrateful, but lets be completely honest here. Capcom isn't learning from their mistakes. They just stated not too long ago that Dead Rising 3 is trying to appeal to a wider array of fans, specifically the Call of Duty crowd. Remember that one other game that tried to appeal to CoD fans? Remember how well that didn't work?

After their recent endeavors... the likelihood that Capcom was the reason MegaMan got into Smash 4 is pretty slim. I am more inclined to believe that nintendo themselves, after seeing a cancellation of what would have been, and probably was, a console driver for their 3DS and the abysmal state of MegaMan as a whole, reached out to Capcom as a gesture to try and make MegaMan fans have something to look forward to from E3, considering the history with MegaMan and nintendo consoles. I really can't see the majority of the people that pass decisions at Capcom suggesting it.

UNLESS this is capcom's way of stalling for time as they try and figure out what whether or not they're gunna make a new MegaMan game or just stick to figurines for the entirety of MegaMan's 25th, which is almost halfway done if anyone needed reminding.

I'm happy and all, but outside of a CAPCOM made MegaMan game that actually seems to have some modicum of effort put into it, like Revelations and a few others did, I'm not going to forgive Capcom for the shit they put us through and their overall response. Or did everyone else forget how Legends 3 was our fault for not wanting it enough?

Sorry, but I disagree 'dude. You know better than me that Capcom has cancelled several Mega Man games (ya, Legends 3, Universe and the korean Online), plus the typical excuses for such actions (remember of "top men"?). Well, Capcom had more than enough time for a new Mega Man game, but Nintendo took the requests - so, Mega Man in Smash Bros is a reality. Obviously that Capcom is envolved with Nintendo, but that's NOT the point. As you can see, it was a matter of time for a chance for Mega Man... and Nintendo did it. In the past, if I'm not wrong, it was the same with Mega Man 6. So, I disagree about Capcom' even more excuses for Smash Bros.

Smash provides Capcom with another opportunity to evaluate the popularity of the brand, and witness it grow as Mega Man is exposed to new audiences. This is a grand opportunity for Capcom and they took it.

Nintendo is not rescuing Mega Man from Capcom like a damsel in distress. Rather, they are providing Capcom with another platform for the character to be enjoyed by more people than ever before. His inclusion, at the very least, will get people outside of our bubble interest in more.

I do think it's wise for Capcom to have taken this chance, even though I personally feel they should already be well aware of the large demand for Megaman.

But I also feel like Nintendo is doing a lot of work for Capcom here. It's no real secret that Capcom never really did a great job with Megaman when it came for advertisement, at least in the west. It feels to me like Capcom could have done so much to make Megaman more relevant or get the brand more publicity over the past few years (like maybe including the character in their own crossover fighting game?) and they have done essentially nothing.

Now they can pretty much get a free pass towards exposing the brand to people thanks to Smash Brothers.

I don't think it's a bad thing. In fact I'm thrilled to see Megaman in the game more than anything else at E3 this year. I'm just saying it seems like a lot of leg work from Nintendo.

The extent of Capcom's collaborative efforts?"Hey Nintendo, can we please have MegaMan in your new Smash Bros.? Our fans are kind of pissed off at us and we haven't really even done anything with him yet for his 25th anniversary.""I guess."

Ha! I doubt it went down like that, but at this point, I'd be ok if it did. Historically, I am a Capcom fanboy, but these last few years of drama have gotten me to the point where I'm excited to see someone else's take on Rockman. From what I'm seeing in videos, Nintendo did a fabulous job of bringing him to life in their own universe and I would have no qualms about them handling him from here on out, to be honest. I don't think the Capcom I grew up loving exists anymore.-ud

It is my deepest, fondest dream that Capcom let Nintendo make Mega Man games. It just makes sense. How about a Retro Studios Mega Man? They did a fantastic job with Donkey Kong Country Returns. They showed they could bring new life to an old franchise with Metroid Prime. Sure, not all the same talent is there now, but it seems like a much better setup than Capcom proper.

Rockman in Smash Bros is awesome, but I don't believe in Capcom anymore, specially in anything that comes from Capcom USA. It's obvious that character licensing depends on efforts of the two companies, but I am certain that the whole idea came from Nintendo, thanks to the success of the last smash bros iteration with Sonic and Solid Snake. I am very glad about the way the blue bomber is represented in this game, but I am certain that If we were depending on Capcom initiatives we would be stuck with Bad Box Mega Man and Xover crap all the way.

Capcom USA doesn't even made any efforts to localize the beautiful japanese Dungeons & Dragons Chronicles of Mystara limited edition. And what about the E3? They need to do more to gain our trust again. What about a HD remaster of Rockman 8? And what about releasing the Game Boy games again? We need to stop to support capcom every time they grant us with sub-par stuff, and that includes you, Protodude. Stop being the little Capcom's helper, please. We don't need more news about Xover; stop protecting Capcom. They will receive the proper treatment after treating his fans with more respect.

I'll grant you not EVERYONE at Capcom wishes to cock-block all things Megaman. It's pretty spurious to assume so. But given what's happened in the past, I don't doubt there are more than a few money-minded individuals within that company who don't relish the idea of wild and experimental ideas for games featuring the Blue Bomber.

Especially when there are so many SFIV, Resident Evil and MvC updates to churn out.

Working at Capcom these days is a lot like working for Disney. You might be a talneted, enthusiastic individual who supports fledgling ideas the public would love, but you're at the mercy of shareholders and CEOs who just want to go after the quick and easy profit instead of indulging projects that may not turn a profit, or, won't turn a big enough profit to warrant doing it.

Protodude, if you're shocked at the reaction this "miracle announcement" has gathered from the Mega/Rockman faithful, you're eating too much from Capcom's own brand of cereal.

This is what happens when a fandom has been burned too many times and has been neglected so long...

Of course, I do remember that recent article you posted in which you reference a time in the 90's in which MegaMan was having a crisis with it's releases and such.

But this crisis is VASTLY, VASTLY different compared to then.

Why?

The Internet.

Information can be shared in an instant. And wither we like it or not, that information can either build a utopia or destroy an empire.

A good example... the XBox One debacle. EVERYONE is gathering and hanging on to every little bit of information... namely the negative info... they can get.

And if you don't think this is going to alter Microsoft's overall outlook on the XBox brand, something is wrong.

This isn't just a vocal minority talking... A GOOD CHUNK of people don't want to have anything to do with the next XBox.

And all of this from a simple amount of information.

The same could be applied to the who MegaMan thing.

The game cancellations, the incessant amount of merchandise instead of an actual game, the amount of time that has passed since Mega's 25th has started and the only substantial video game thing... a GOOD thing... is a cameo in another company's game.

Half a year... could be considered quite a long time if we're comparing Internet time to the human race's dominance of the earth.

Could be considered a century of NO NEWS...

Every day that passes with no news of a game FROM CAPCOM THEMSELVES... it's just another day that more MegaMan fans grow even more dubious.

Yeah, it's better to wait for a GOOD game (3 years sometimes) than to have a 8 bits style again....im afraid if a megaman game hasnt good musics too.....MM10 wily stages themes were awesome, mm9 soundtrack was perfect.But it's not nextgen.

Since Inafune left, we need to wait a long time. Capcom must be sure to know what they do. It's not so easy.

What happens if hypothetically we wait 3 years and we get an 8bit game, but with some thing different like say metroidvania style gameplay? Would you all be drinking Capcom's koolaid then? I know some would.

Thanks Protodude, for your optimism and for encouraging this [rightfully disgruntled but also frequently immature] fanbase to keep their cool. I agree with you 100%. Please keep up the positive messages.

Hey let's not forget about Sega now, they managed to make Sonic fun again with Generations, and Colors, Capcom could bring back Megaman like Sonic if we're lucky and if we're not after another 3 years I'm going to Japan to burn down Capcom -_-.